Henhouse-door



H. REINCKE. I

HENHousE DOOR.

APPLICATION FILED MAILZZ', 192|.

Patented Juil@- 7, 1921.

UNiTao stares HENRY REINCKE, OF DES PLAINES, ILLL'NOIS.

EENHOUSE-DOOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Yl une '7, v1921.

Application led March 22, 1921. Serial No. 454,456.

The invention relates to hen house doorsv and exits, and has for itsobject to provide a device of this character, which may be closed fromthe outside for preventing entrance of animals, such as prey upon fowl,and so constructed that when a chicken desires to leave the hen house,the weight of the chicken on a depressible 4member will release vaspring latch and allow the hen house door to swing open upon its hingesunder the infiuence of a spring.

A further object is to provide means whereby the spring opened door maybe permanently held against opening under the impulse of the operatingspring, thereby preventing exit of the fowl from a hen house.

. A further object is to provide a hen house exit comprising a casinghaving a passage therethrough to one side of said casing and at one endthereof a vertically hinged door is provided, said door being providedwith spring means for opening the same. Also to provide a pivoted latchbar within the passage and pivoted to the side thereof, said latch barbeing normally held downwardly by a spring, and its hooked end inengagement with a keeper carried by the free end of the door, said latchbar holding the door closed and to provide a pivoted tread member havinga connecting bar connection with the rear end of the latch bar and onsaid tread member, the fowl leaving the hen house will step therebydepressing the tread member and releasing the door, allowing the same tobe opened by its operating spring.

With the above and other objects in view the invention resides in thecombination and arrangement of parts as hereinafter set forth, shown inthe drawings, described and claimed, it being understood that changes inthe precise embodiment of the invention may be made within the scope ofwhat is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a side elevation of the hen house exit.

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view through the exit.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view taken on line 3-3 of 'Fig'. 1. f

Fig. 4 is a rear view of the exit.

Fig. 5 is a detail view of thel hooking means for holding the door shutand against operation.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 1 designates a vrectangularshapedcasing which may be disposed in a hen house opening and 2 an exitpassage through said casing through which poultry passes in entering andleaving the hen house. Pivoted as at 3 to one of the sides 4 of thecasing 1 is a lever 5, the forward end of which terminates in a hookedmemberv 6 adjacent the inner face of the door 7 which is vhinged as at 8to one of the sides il. Hooked member i l6 ,engages over a lug 8 carriedby the vdoor 7 adjacent its free` end'and'holds said'door in closedposition as shown in Fig. 3, against the action of the leaf spring 9,one end of which spring is secured at 10 to one of the side members 4 ofthe casing 1 and the other end disposed in engagement with the innerface of the door 7, said leaf spring forming means for forcing the door7 to open position when the hooked end 6 of the lever 5 is raised out ofengagement with a lug 8 carried by the door and against the action ofthe leaf spring 11. Leaf spring 11 normally holds the hooked end 6 ofthe lever 5 in down position as shown in Fig. 2, so that the door willbe held closed to exclude entrance of animals which destroy fowl. Afterthe fowl has entered the hen roost or house the operator closes the door7 for the night for excluding animals from the hen house. However in themorning when the fowls start from the hen house, one of them will stepon the hinged tread member V12 and the weight of the fowl will forcesaid tread member downwardly to the dotted line posi` tion shown in Fig.2. When the tread member 12 is forced downwardly a downward pull isimparted on the bar 13 which is pivotedas at 14. to the tread member andat 15 to the rearwardly extending arm 16 of the pivoted lever 5, whichaction will rock the pivoted lever on its pivotal point 3 and raise thehook 6 of said lever out of engagement with the lug 8 against theactionk of the spring 11 and release the door 7, thereby allowing thedoor to be forced to open position by the leaf spring 9.

The arm 16 of the pivoted lever 5v extends through a U-shaped cleat 17,which cleat;

limits the upward and downward movement Vof the arm 16 and consequentlylimits the upward and downwardmovement of the hook 6. The end of thehook 6 is beveled as at 18 so that when the door is closed manually bythe operator, the lug 8 will engage the bevel:

end`1'8 and force said hooked end upwardly until the lug is received inthe notch 17 of the leverand held therein by the action ofthe leafspring 11 until a fowl releases the same when it desires to leave thehen Vhouse and moves through the passage 2 in the direction of the arrowa.

If it is desired to lock the door 7 so that the fowl cannot leave thehen house at all., the pivoted hook`2() is moved into engagement withthe headed lug 21 carried by the 1 free edge of the door 7, this beingdesirable under weather'conditions, when it is essential-to maintainfowl housed.VV

The invention lhaving been set forth what is claimed as new and usefulis n A fowl operated closure for lien house rropenings, said closurebeing hinged to the henhouse and positioned to register :with theopening therein when closed,` a leaf spring engaging said closure andforming means for forcing thesame outwardly when ,of its spring. a

released,' a lever pivoted adjacent the closure and inwardly thereof,one end of said lever being provided with a hook, a lug carried by thedoor and adapted to be engaged by said sition, a leaf spring engagingthe hook carrying end of the lever for normally holding the same inengagement with the hook, means for limiting the pivoted movement oflhook for holding the closure in closed pothe pivotal lever, a barpivotally connected Y to said lever, a substantially horizontallydisposed hinged tread member disposed in- In testimonywhereof I havesigned my name to this specilicationinthe presence of two subscribingwitnesses.

' n 1 HENRYRElNCKE.' Witnesses: u u CECILIA'M. BIESINGER, DAVID J.Grnnnsrrn.`

